Fuel selector valve



Nov. 25, 1958 Q w, HERTEL 2,861,591

FUEL SELECTOR VALVE Filed Sept. 13, 1954 39 h as 40- L:

FIG.4 42

INVENTOR. WILLIAM A. HER TEL BY RICH EIZWATTS, EDGERTQN G/NENENNYATTOEREYS United States Patent FUEL SELECTOR VALVE William AndrewHertel, Cleveland, Ohio, assignor to The Vlfeatherhead Company,Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation 0 Ohio Application September 13, 1954,Serial No; 455,660 2 Claims. (Cl. 137607) This invention relates to avalve and more particularly to a valve for connecting an outlet line toeither of two sources of supply.

Automobile trucks currently in' use generally'carry a cylindrical tankof fuel at the rear of the truck cab at each side of the truck chassis.The fuel lines between the supply tanks and the motor are generallyprovided. with a number of valves so that either of the two fuel It is afurther object of my invention to provide a selector valve including achamber having an outlet port and two inlet ports, and wherein the inletports are on opposite sides of the pivot support for a rockable port,closure member whereby rocking of the closure member to open one inletport closes the other.

Further objects and advantages relating to simplicity in constructionand ease of assembly and efiiciency in use will appear from thefollowing description and the appended drawing; wherein Fig. l is anelevation in section of a preferred form of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken at right angles-to view of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a plan view taken at the back of the valve and showing themanual operating mechanism; and

Fig. 4 is a sectional view of a modified form of valve made according tomy invention. j

The valve body indicated in its entirety as at 5 cornprises a diecasting providing a chamber 6 and a remov; able cover plate 7. The lowerwall'of the valve body indicated at 8 in Fig. 1 is provided with aninlet .bore 9, an outlet bore and an inlet bore 11. The inlet bores 9and 11 may be connected to separate sources of supply, such as forexample two fuel tanks (not shown). The bores 9, 10 and 11 areinteriorly threaded in the body to provide for the attachment of tube orhose couplings. The inlet bores 9 and 11 are provided at the interior ofthe body with valve seat-members 9a and 11a. The back wall 12 of thevalve body is provided with an opening 13 to support a transverse pin 14which has its other end supported in a recess as at 15 in the coverplate 7. A rockable valve closure member 16 is formed from a metalstamping having down-turned cars 17 and 18 bored to receive thetransverse pin 14. The enlarged head portion 14:: of the pin maintainsthe member 16 laterally by contact with the ear 17.

At each end of the rocker member 16 a valve closure plug is provided.The plug indicated at 19 is adapted to close the inlet port 9 and theplug 20 is adapted to close the inlet port 11. A spring member 21 issecured to the upper side of the rocker member 16 and is in the form ofa flat resilient metal strip anchored at each end of the rocker member16. The central portion of the spring member 21 is formed arcuately asat 2111 and is spaced from the manually operable member 22. Fixed to theshaft of the member 22 within the chamber 6 is a cam arm or lever 23having a rounded end portion adapted to ride on the arcuate portion 21aof the spring member 21.

Preferably each of the valve plugs 19 and 20 are provided with anannularrubber-like O-ring seal as at 19a and 20a. The rocker 16 is formed sothat the opposite arms thereof are not in the same plane with respect toits pivotal axes. This results in positioning the seal 20a of theclosure plug 20 co-axially with the bore of the sleeve inlet 11a whenthe inlet port 11 is closed, and likewise facilitates the full openingof the other inlet port 9. The pin 22 is preferably provided with anO-ring seal as at 22a where it traverses the back wall 12 of the valveand the projecting exterior portion is provided with a squared shank asat 22b to receive a squared opening in an oper- 1 ating arm 30. The arm30 is secured to the member 22 by a nut 31 which is threaded onto theend of the projecting portion of the pin 22. The arm 30 may be operatedby a Bowden wire 33 which leads to a position convenient to the truckoperator.

In the position shown in Fig. 1 the fuel is admitted to the valve bodythrough the inlet port 9 which is open and the resilience of themember'21 biases the cam lever 23 to the right and the other inlet port11 is closed by the plug 20. When the Bowden wire actuator 33 is movedso as to rock the lever 30, the cam lever 23 swings to the other end ofthe resilient member 21 and holds the inlet port 9 closed. Thearrangement is such that the stable position of the parts closes oneinlet port and opens the other. The intermediate position, that is, withthe cam lever 23 directly in line with the pin 14, is an unstableposition due to the bias of the spring member 21. This arrangementfacilitates the use of fuel from two tanks alternatively and guardsagainst the use of fuel from both tanks at the same time.

In that form of the invention shown in .Fig. 4, the valve body 35 isprovided with inlet ports 36 and 37 and an outlet port 38. Rockerelement 39 is mounted on a pin 40 journaled in the valve bodytransversely of the outlet port 38. The rocker 39 carries resilientclosure plugs 41 and 42 adapted to close the ports 36 and 37respectively. This form of closure which is a rounded neoprene plug, isriveted to the rocker 39 as at 41a and 42a and provides an effectiveseal where the inlet ports enter the valve chamber. The member 39 ispreferably provided with an axially extending groove 39a which receivesthe rounded lower end 43 of a wire spring carried by the manuallyoperated actuator 44. The opposite end of said wire spring as at 45-rides in an axially extending groove 46 formed in the valve cover plate47. The assembly of this form of valve may be effected by inserting therocker member 39 and its pin 40 into its open notch-like journalsthrough the opening in the wall of the valve body. The slidable actuator44 may then be, inserted into the valve body and the spring wire 43-45secured to the slotted inner end of the actuator 44 by pin 48 passingthrough a coil in the mid-portion of the spring wire 4345. In operation,the member 44 is manually reciprocated by means of the Bowden wire orthe like which causes the spring 43 to ride along the groove 39a fromone side of the pivot 40 to the other. In this modification it will benoted that the rocker 39 is biased to either close port 36 or 37. As inthe preferred embodiment, the stable position of the valve is with oneinlet port closed and the other port open. In both forms of valve thecovers are provided with gaskets and the actuating members with O-ringseals. The gasket 7a is 1. A selector valve comprising a body having aniri-- tegrally formed back wall and side walls with said side wallsdisposed normal to the back wall to form a chamber, a cover platespanning said side wall to enclose the chamber, one of said side wallshaving an outlet bore centrally thereof and an inlet bore at each sideof the outlet bore, a pivot pin mounted in the chamber in alignment withsaid outlet bore, said pin being supported in the chamber transverselyof the outlet bore, a rocker member mounted on said pivot pinintermediate its ends and proportioned so that the ends thereof overhangsaid inlet bores, a chamfered valve seat in the chamber at each of saidinlet bores, said rocker member having the portions thereof at each sideof its pivotal mounting angularly related to each other, a valve closuremember carried at each end of the rocker member and having a diameterexceeding the diameter of the seat in the inlet bores, and an O-ring,seal carried by each of the valve closure members on the side thereofadjacent the chamfered valve seat, said O-ring seal havingv an outerdiameter corresponding substantially to the maximum diameter of saidchamfered valve seat, each of said valve closure members being moved inan arcuate path by pivotal movement of the rocker member on its pivotpin, said arcuate path of each valve member being coincident with theaxis of its inlet bore as the valve closure member reaches the valveseat, a leaf spring mounted on the rocker member on that side thereofaway from the outlet and inlet bores, said leaf spring having a centralarcuate portion concave away from the rocker member and having divergingend portions secured to the rocker member adjacent the valve closuremember, an actuating shaft pivoted in the wall of the body spaced fromsaid leaf spring, an arm on said shaft having a cam surface at the endthereof adapted to bear on said arcuate portion of the leaf spring tomove said rocker to one or the other of the valve closing position,means for limitingthe movement of the arm about the pivot axis of theshaft to prevent disengagement of said cam surface from said leafspring, said arm and the arcuate portion of said leaf spring beingproportioned so that the distance from the pivot axis of the actuatingshaft to the end of the cam on the arm is greater than the distance fromsaid pivot axis to all surfaces on the arcuate portion of the leafspring except the surface in contact with the cam and so that when oneor the other of the valves is in its valve closing position such valveis biased to such closed position whereby the rocker arm is biased toclose one or the other of said inlet bores.

2 A selector valve comprising a body having an integrally formed backwall and side walls, one of said side walls being disposed normal to theback wall and a cover for the body to form a chamber, said one side wallhaving an outlet bore centrally thereof and an inlet bore at each sideof the outlet bore, a pivot pin mounted in the chamber adjacent saidoutlet bore and transversely thereof, a rocker member mounted on saidpivot pin intermediate its ends and proportioned to overhang said inletbores, a chamfered valve seat in the chamber at each of said inletbores, said rocker member having portions thereof at each side of itspivotal mounting provided with a valve closure member, said memberhaving 7 a diameter exceeding the minimum diameter of said valve seat,each of said closure members having a resilient seal carried therebyadjacent the valve seat and adapted to enter the large diameter portionof the chamfered valve seat, each of said valve closure members beingmoved in an arcuate path by turning said rocker memher, said arcuatepath being coincident with the axis of the inlet bore as the valveclosure members reach the valve seat, a leaf spring mounted on that sideof the rocker arm away from the outlet and inlet bores, the endportionsof saidleaf spring being secured to the rocker arm and the intermediateportion of the leaf spring being generally arcuate and spaced from therocker arm by the end portions of the leaf spring, said arcuate portionof the leaf spring being concave on that side away from the rocker armto provide a curved bearing surface, an actuating shaft. pivoted in thevalve body in alignment with the outlet bore'and the rocker memberpivot, said actuating shaft. being spaced from said leaf spring, an armon said actuating shaft having a cam on the end thereof adapted to rideon the arcuate bearing surface of said leaf spring to move said rockerto one or the other of the valve closing position, means for limitingthe movement of the arm about the pivot axis of the shaft to preventdisengagement of said cam surface from said leaf spring-said leaf springand arm being proportioned With respectto each other so that thedistance from the pivot axis of the actuating shaftto the cam surface onthe arm is greater'than the distance from the pivot axis of theactuating shaft to all other surfaces of the arcuate spring portionexcept that portion of the spring in contact with the cam and so thatwhen one or the other of the valves is" in its valve closing positionsuch valve is biased to such closed position whereby the rocker arm isbiased to close one or the other said inlet bores.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,177,100 Grandjean Mar. 28, 1916 2,274,917 Carlson et al. Mar. 3, 19422,311,464 Parker Feb. 16, 1943 2,311,465 Parker Feb. 16, 1943

